POETRY OE FLOWERS. M> 
CARDINAL FLOWER. 
Lobelia . Class 5; Order 1. 
This is a beautiful flower. Flowers a rich scarlet; 
growing wild by brooks and ditches. 
DISTINCTION. 
Heaven grant thee, friend, a high soft star to be, 
Calm, still and bright, to trace thy way in heaven, 
And shed thy light o’er life’s tempestuous sea, 
Where human hearts like fragile barks are driven. 
’Mid rocks and hidden shoals; 
A soul ’mid glorious souls— 
A small, pure star, within the glittering band, 
That high above the clouds, undimmed and grand 
In placid beauty, rolls, 
To herald on the weary to the land 
Where all is rest and peace; to guide the way 
To heaven’s unclouded day. 
0, ask not a home in the mansions of pride, 
Where marble shines out in the pillars and walls; 
Though the roof be of gold, it is brilliantly cold, 
And joy may not be found in its torch-ligbted halls. 
Eliza Cook. 
